I did a duffel cut repair on an Arisaka during the downtime. Just wanted feedback. I know i could of done better, but it was the first time doing a duffel cut.

Heres what i started with. A rather rough Type 99

Heres the finishes product. Thankfully the repair is under the band so it won't look terrible

Handguard was split down the length of it

Epoxxied that sucker up and made it practice bondage with a flat post. Used rubber bands and wax paper to keep the mess to a minimum as sanding the glue flush is a concern with the urushi finish.

Handguard complete. The rubber bands did have a small effect on the end, its hard to see, but it was glued slightly off kilter. Some sort of spacer under the end would of been ideal. Perhaps more rubber bands.

As for the stock itself. I squared up both remaining sections to have a nice working conditions. I had a brass that that fit EXACT down the cleaning rod hole. I used this to my advantage for the whole process. Used the same method you see on the handguard with the additional of a few more clamps. I feel this was a better choice than using the barrel as a jig as I'm certain its level and any free floatyness was retained.

Being as its in a non critical location but one that will receive axial twisting being handled, i felt the need to use brass screws. These are not very long or large as space was at a premium. I wanted to use a brass threaded tube down the cleaning rod hole but there just wasn't enough meat.

I had a bubba'd stock lying around that still had the band area untouched. I sliced off a small wafer. Using the handguard and nose cap i slowly sanded until the overall length was where it needed to be. Keeping it parallel was fairly tedious and itme consuming. I just used a square and triple checked often.

I lightly waxed the edges here. But i didn't have a real problem with epoxy sticking to the urushi anyway. I glue balled it so ensure a complete coverage of the area. It also turned out whoever cut the cleanign rod hole was slighlty tipsy, its misaligned with the stock. The repair waffer was dead center, so i had to drill and wander the hole over until they lined up. In hindsight I need to make a 3' long drill bit to recut rod holes. There is a dime sized void where i had to move the hole to realign it, i took care not to cover this in glue so I didn't trap the brass support rod i was using.

Left side after being cured. I used sanding dust to help fill in the edge. Didn't come out quiet right though.

Left side after recutting the band screw hole. I cut the hole a hair too high and had to file the bottom to get it back to flush. The top of the repair blew out. Going to coat the band screw in release agent and drop a small wood block into the top to unify the area again.

I'm curious as to how you handled the brass screws. Did you turn them into one set of holes and then grid off the heads? Did you make the other set of holes oversize and then just epoxy them in place? Have you fired the rifle since?

I'm curious as to how you handled the brass screws. Did you turn them into one set of holes and then grid off the heads? Did you make the other set of holes oversize and then just epoxy them in place? Have you fired the rifle since?

Both sides are slightly oversize, I made them just big enough that i could tap them in (while slathered in epoxy) and still make contact. I havn't taken it out to fire yet, no reason as to why, guess i could do that this weekend!

I watched a YouTube video a few weeks ago where a guy made a similar repair and I believe one to the wrist. He stated neither could be done with retaining the original finish I called him out on it, know exactly as you did here it could be done. I got ridiculed for calling him out, but knew I was right.

Nice work. I have found it useful when glueing handguards and thin shotgun fore ends to use a small diameter bicycle inner tube in the channel to provide opposing outward pressure against the the clamping bands.